“Mr. Peanut signed the Treaty of Surrender with President Clinton on the White House lawn today.”
This is a real line of dialogue—one that is uttered with absolute somber sincerity—from the new Netflix movie, The Electric State, which began streaming yesterday.
Somehow, this is not a joke about product placement from one of those fake movies on 30 Rock. Instead, at an estimated production budget of $320 million, The Electric State is the most expensive Netflix movie to date. And, apparently, what $320 million gets you is a bizarre, motion-captured-CGI version of the Planters mascot, leading the working-class revolution. That’s a lot of money for a peanut commercial!
Directed by Anthony and Joe Russo, and written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely—who adapted the screenplay from Simon Stålenhag’s graphic novel of the same name—The Electric State stars Millie Bobby Brown and Chris Pratt, and takes viewers to an alternate-history version of the ’90s, in which robot mascots staged an uprising against humanity. You guys all remember the many branded, life-size robots we had in the ’90s, right? No? Me either.
Even if you’re willing to suspend your disbelief on this front, it becomes impossible to do so once it becomes clear that not only will the robot Mr. Peanut (voiced by A-lister Woody Harrelson) be a major character in this film, he is, in fact, a radical, revolutionary leader among his people (robots).
You know, the same Mr. Peanut who wears a top-hat, monocle, and bowtie? The fancy pants, anthropomorphic nut that shills for Planters? In this universe, he’s akin to Martin Luther King Jr. and Che Guevara. He delivers rousing speeches to the robot masses: “We were built to think, but they don’t want us to! We were built to work, but never for ourselves! Our destiny isn’t theirs to decide!”
Again: This is real, actual dialogue from the film.
If you’re thinking, generously, that perhaps the Russo brothers were being facetious with this character choice, you need only read their recent interview in Filmhounds to realize that they are, in fact, dead serious.
“We always imagined [Mr. Peanut] as a bit of an Atticus Finch character, and we wanted somebody that had intellectual integrity but also easy relatability,” Anthony Russo told the magazine in earnest, when asked about casting Harrelson as the voice. “He becomes this leader for robots to have more autonomy, to have a voice, so it is really important to us to have somebody who is relatable and has a level of folksy intelligence to them.”
You read that correctly: Russo is comparing a CGI, robot, corporate mascot to one of the greatest literary figures of all time. We live in the worst timeline.
It’s such a baffling creative decision. Mr. Peanut is not a character in Stålenhag’s original graphic novel, which paints a much darker—arguably much cooler—post-tech-apocalypse aesthetic. So… did Planters pay for this? Is this all an elaborate form of product placement?
It certainly seems possible. After all, Planters has been doing increasingly unhinged things with their mascot over the last decade, including killing him off and bringing him back as a Baby Nut.
As it turns out, earlier this week, Planters sent out a press release announcing Harrelson’s take on their mascot.
“We are eager to see Mr. Peanut step into this bold new role in The Electric State,” said Ashley Krautkramer-Gonya, senior brand manager for the PLANTERS brand, said in the press release. “As an iconic symbol of American culture for over a century, Mr. Peanut has always been about bringing joy, fun and a little bit of unexpected charm to every moment. We can’t wait for fans to see him in action alongside such a talented cast.”
In other words, it sounds like this was—at least in part—a $320 million attempt to rebrand the posh, British Mr. Peanut mascot into a working-class, American, folk hero.
I’ll be honest, I’d much rather see Chris Pratt eating a handful of Planters Peanuts with the label angled toward the camera than… whatever this is. Can we please bring back normal spon-con? Worst product placement ever.
